


The Weight of a Gaze

by Clockwork



Series: Charms and Charmed [2]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fashion Design, Legilimency, MACUSA, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-19
Updated: 2017-01-19
Packaged: 2018-09-18 12:13:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9384581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clockwork/pseuds/Clockwork
Summary: Queenie realizes that Percival is watching her, and she isn't shy about asking why when they meet once more about her designing a new wardrobe for him.





	

It was after their second time meeting that Queenie began to notice it. Crossing the main floor of the MACUSA building, her heels clacking out a pattern on the tiles. A myriad of voices played in her head, tidbits of conversations, thoughts about her, images of family members, and lovers, and chocolate. It was normal for her, the same thing that she dealt with day in and day out as she made her way through the headquarters for America’s wizarding world. 

That day though there was something different. Pausing, letting the excess of wizards and witches flow around her, Queenie tried to pinpoint what it was. Her mind pushed outwards, catching onto a conversation here, a thought there. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing that should have felt like a weight on her shoulders. 

Turning in a slow circle, head canting and then tipping back, looking upwards when she found nothing in those around her. That was when her bright, glittering gaze fell upon him. 

Percival Graves standing at the rail above, his hands curled against the metal trim and the rich snowy white of his cuffs falling down over the metal. It wasn’t unusual, a stance he often took to observe the MACUSA and how it was running, who was on sight and what they were all up to. Queenie would have thought nothing of it if, as her gaze met his, he inclined his head, bringing two fingers to his temple as if saluting her. 

It was obvious that weight, all that she had felt, was Percival’s gaze upon her. As she had been going about her business, he had been making her his business. Crossing one leg behind the other, giving a curtsy without making it obvious she was doing so, Queenie turned away and headed about her day. 

Smiling from ear to ear and unable to stop humming. 

It was perhaps the first time she had felt that weight, but it wouldn’t be the last over the next few days. Though after that moment, she had learned what it was and came to seek it out as she went about her day.

Noticing him standing with a group of Aurors, going over the day’s notes while inclining his head her way even as he spoke to another. Times when she would find a cup of tea on her desk but no one mentioned seeing anyone, or heading towards the door at the end of the day, Teenie at her side, and feeling it once more. That weight upon her shoulders, the heavy, rich weight of Percival’s gaze upon her. Yet he made no effort to call her back to his office, and so Queenie didn’t not invade his space. Not until the date he had set for her to show him the first sketches.

Stepping away from her desk, her sketchbook in hand as she made her way through the MACUSA and to the hallway where the Aurors offices were. Pausing outside of Graves’ partially open door, she tapped on the frame.

“Do come in, Miss Goldstein,” he called from inside the office. 

Pushing the door open, she stepped just inside the door, pausing. It was exactly the same as it had been before, except the tea cups were already on the desk, steam rising from them. Percival was already seated, the desk cleared for them to look at the sketches. 

“I’m glad you could make it,” he said, rising then for her, gesturing to the chair once more. “I’ve been looking forward to seeing you again.”

“Oh I think you’ve been seeing a lot of me, Mr Graves,’ she teased, crossing the floor and carefully laying the book to one side of the tea. “It’s interesting,” she admitted, settling into the chair with her legs crossed at the ankles. “I can’t read you. Not a single word, but out there,” she said with the wave of a hand. “I can feel it. I know when you’re there.”

Maybe it was admitting too much. Maybe it was asking a question without wording it as such. She wasn’t going to ignore though what had been going on.

“Good, because I’ve wanted you to know,” he admitted. “I have to admit, after our first talk, I’ve found you interesting. I’ve been looking into you, Miss Goldstein. Does that bother you?”

Asked suddenly, curious, head tilting just a tiny bit to one side. It didn’t take legilimency to read Percival suddenly. Suddenly she felt as if she understood a little bit more about him. Not certain why, but that he was curious if his attention had bothered her. All of the ladies that would have reveled in it, and he didn’t seem to realize that. 

“Bother me? Oh no, not at all,” she said, waving his worries off with the wave of a hand. “I admit, I’m curious though. Were you worried that I was working on your wardrobe while on the clock?”

It was an answer that seemed to make more sense than the other things that her mind wanted to believe. Things that just couldn’t be possible. Not in her mind. Not with her being who she was and Percival being the wizard that he was. 

“Of course not. I hope you did,” he said. 

Then it was there again. That smile, wide and vibrant. While he had been watching her, Queenie had taken to doing the same and in that time, she had noticed one thing. She hadn’t seen that smile before. Only when it was the two of them in this office. Maybe it meant nothing but kindness and joy, but Queenie couldn’t help but feel special when she saw it, not having seen it with anyone else. 

“I may have snuck in a sketch or two,’ she teased, eyes crinkling at the corners as she smiled. “That doesn’t explain though why you were watching me and… you were making sure I knew, weren’t you?”

Percival inclined his head, once. “I was indeed ensuring you were aware. You’re intriguing. Would it be trite to say you’re not like other witches?”

Queenie’s fingers nearly trembled as she picked up the tea cup, bringing it to her lips and using the pretense of blowing across the liquid to cool it as a way of trying to calm herself. Taking the tiniest of sips, she shook her head, lips pursed for a moment. 

“No, not trite at all. Actually it’s nice to hear comin’ from you, Mr Graves. Course, if you wanted to know anything about me, you just had to ask. I know most won’t believe it but for a legilimence but I’m pretty much an open book.”

She was what many would call a bombshell, all sweet curves and innate sensuality, but beneath the gilded exterior was a woman with a heart just as golden and a soul that shined in every smile. 

Perhaps that was what it was that Percival saw, that had led him to making a point of watching her, to learning about a girl that had just been a witch on the floor on a couple of weeks earlier. 

“Well then, Miss Goldstein, why don’t you show me what you’ve been working on,” he began, shifting in his seat, leaning forward towards her. “And while you do, we can talk about who we are. Why don’t you start with what brought you to design,” he said, smiling so that the corners of his eyes crinkled. 

In that instant, even as her hand was steady in opening the sketch book, Queenie’s heart melted and she knew she was lost.


End file.
